


Silver Hair

by uumuu



Category: The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Gen, Nightmares
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-08
Updated: 2016-01-08
Packaged: 2018-05-12 14:06:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5668720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/uumuu/pseuds/uumuu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Silver hair, ruthless as steel.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Silver Hair

Elwing hurried down the corridor, holding her sons' hands.

“You must never go out of the palisade, never!” she admonished, tugging the twins along, a frantic urgency in her voice matching the spring in her step.

Elrond and Elros struggled to keep up at her sides, both genuinely contrite. They had slipped out of the settlement, and a whole party of worried attendants had gone out looking for them, and brought them back to their mother. Elwing led them into their room, and guided them to sit on their bed. She knelt there in front of them, still holding their hands. 

“Promise me you will _never_ go out again.” 

“But mommy, we only wanted to see the woods,” Elrond whined.

Elros nodded. “Why can't we go out?”

“It's dangerous out there.” 

Elrond frowned. “There's nothing dangerous outside of the fence.”

“Oh, my sweet children,” Elwing softly said, letting go of their hands to stroke their cheeks, “there are so many things which could hurt you outside of the palisade. Wild animals. Wicked elves. The Fëanorians are out there.” She could have said orcs, too, but orcs had never been seen in the vicinity of Sirion, and orcs were just a remote threat to her.

“But the Fëanorians aren't near here,” Elrond protested.

Elwing shook her head. “No, no, they aren't to be trusted. They could come here at any time, unawares. They will hurt you if they find you. One of them took your uncles and killed them. They were just as old as you two.”

Elros and Elrond shivered at that. 

“...what does he look like?” Elros asked in a tiny voice after a time, when Elwing didn't move or speak again, but kept staring at them, unblinking.

“So we can know if he comes here,” Elrond added. 

Elwing took a deep breath, but her eyes remained fixed on the twins. She had actually never seen him, or if she had she didn't remember. She had heard many tales, and she had plenty of nightmares to make up for it. In her darkest recurring dreams, there was a tall man, with hair the same colour of the unsheathed sword he clutched in his left hand. But that wasn't what scared her the most. He looked extraordinarily large, his eyes bulging with fury and his lips opened in a savage smile, while he stumbled, blood-drenched, towards her, reaching out with his right arm to grab her – 

“Mom?”

Elwing averted her gaze. “He-...has silver hair, and is very –” she mumbled and broke off, too distraught to go on. She lifter her head, forcing herself to look at her sons again. “But I will make sure none of them ever get close to you. So you must promise me to never go out of the town again.”

The twins didn't look particularly reassured, but faced with their mother's evident distress, both nodded. Elwing urged them to change into their night clothes, tucked them under the covers and waited until they had both fallen asleep. When their breathing had settled to a steady rise and fall of their chests, she closed the window, and left. 

*

Later that night, Elwing tossed and turned in her bed. Her sleep was fitful, beset by the nightmares her sons' innocent questions had evoked. She opened her eyes, and rolled on her side towards the empty part of the bed, wishing Eärendil had been there. She decided to check on her children, to make sure they were safe. She swung her naked feet on the wooden floor, stood up and padded out of her room. The door to the twins' bedroom was open, and already from the corridor she could see that they were asleep, peacefully, curled against each other with their foreheads almost touching.

She heaved a sigh of relief. 

But then she became aware of the sound of the waves crashing on the cliffs underneath. She looked towards the furthest wall. The window was open, letting in the melody and smell of the sea. Her brow furrowed. She was sure she had latched it shut. She tip-toed across the room to close it again. As she drew closer, she noticed _it_.

Strewn all over the windowsill and stretched on the floor towards the bed were strands of silver, insidious as spider thread, glittering under the moonlight. 

Silver hair, ruthless as steel.

She screamed, and fainted.

**Author's Note:**

> I had started this for Trick or Treat but then it got lost in my drafts. Partly inspired by the 'Russian Lullaby' [Tili-tili bom](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDMmj5WgB8c).
> 
> Up to you if there's really anything there or not.


End file.
